Cornered
by Merqurius
Summary: James and Sirius have a fight and McGonagall tries to convince them to make it up.


Professor McGonagall was angry. She paced up and down her classroom and her mouth was a thin line. In the right corner, there was James Potter, facing the wall. In the left was Sirius Black, also facing the wall. And in the middel was McGonagall, yelling at them.

"In all my years at Hogwarts, two Griffindors have never acted so childish and simply stupid. You are a shame for the whole house. To fight like a muggle in front of the whole school! Wizards never solve their conflicts by violence! They talk, or battle in a fair duel! Which of you idiots is going to tell me where two of the best friends are fighting about?"

There was a deadly silence. Then James Potter started by saying:

"He offended me. I was insulted by Peter and Sirius thought that Peter was right. And he wouldn't stop teasing me with my grade for transfiguration."

"It was a low grade ..." Sirius added to that. "And Peter was right, James ego is rather big sometimes. And he is kind of insane at certain moments. And ..."

"Black, did I ask you something?" McGonagall interrupted, her eyes shooting daggers at Sirius.

"Well no," he replied casually. "But I thought you would appreciate my version."

James laughed sarcastically. "Yeah right ..."

"Better my version, then the version of someone who had a low grade for his best subject!" Sirius said in a teasing voice.

James was ready to curse him into the abyss, but that wouldn't be wise in front of a teacher. McGonagall's mood wasn't improved after these words, so they both shut up.

"Fine then." McGonagall said, trying to maintain calm. "If two fight, two are guilty. You will not leave this classroom until one of you apalogizes to the other and the other returns this apologie! Understood!"

This time, James and Sirius agreed with each other and replied both: "Yeah, right."

Sirius added to that: "We will still be standing here next week. Poor and starving, without any books and homework and pranks and friends and ..."

"Black, for the second time, did I ask you something?"

"Well no, but I thought that you would like it if I explained the consequences of this useless punishment to you."

"Mr. Black, it is going to be very hard to apologize if you are under the effect of a silencing charm." McGonagall threatened.

"Okay, okay. I get the point." Sirius stared at the wall again.

McGonagall returned to her desk and began marking papers. She had enough work for at least five hours and she was actually curious to see how this punishment would work out.

After an hour, James decided that his professor should be cooled down now.

"Eh, professor. Don't you think it should be more fair if only the person who deserved the punishment, like the person who started the fight, should stay here?"

"No, mr. Potter." Said McGonagall, without looking up. "I want you to think, for once in you life. About your friendship and if it is less important then a low grade in trasfiguration. Turn back to the wall and start thinking please!"

James turned to the wall again. Right, his friendship with Sirius. Well, there friendship was great, but also quite hard to maintain. James was the fire, while Sirius was the water. He often managed to piss him off. And when Sirius pissed him off, neither of them was going to apologize. But this day, they crossed every limit. Normally, he would ignore Sirius for a few hours, maybe a day. But after that, everything would return to normal again. This time, Sirius went to far. Telling him he was insane, like a good friend would do that. And like he would ever tease Sirius if Sirius had a lower grade in Defence against the Dark Arts. Well, okay. He would celebrate for a few hours, but then it would be over. Sirius kept mentioning it, the whole day long. Even Remus shouldn't tolerate that. No, he wasn't every going to say sorry.

Sirius stared at the wall, feeling bored. He should be outside, pranking anything that even dared to move, like Snape or the giant squid. And it was hot in here. Sirius was beginning to feel a little tired and laid his head against the cool wall.

About ten minutes later, professor McGonagall looked up. She saw James staring at the wall, obviously in thought. Good, she thought. She made her point clear. Then she turned her gaze to Sirius. His eyes were closed, but not because he was in thought. Sirus had managed to fall asleep during his detention! Silently, the stern professor rose from her chair. She walked up to Sirius with the stealth of a cat. When she finally stood next to him, she heard he was breathing heavy. She stepped a few feet away from him, and then raised her wand. She muttered a charm and a bucket filled with icy cold water appeared above the head of Sirius. With an absolutely evil grin, she turned the bucket around with a flick of her wand. As soon as he felt the water, Sirius jumped and screamed.

"Did that clear your mind a little about what I want you to do, mr. Black?" McGonagall asked in a sweet voice.

James laughed and Sirius was very, very pissed right now.

"I was in deep concentration, about to apalogize." He then turned at the laughing James and shot him a foul glare. "But I changed my mind."

"Then you can turn back to the wall and think again!" said McGonagall stern. "And I won't be so mercyfull next time!"

Sirius turned back to the wall and was rather cold. Outside the sun was shining and he was in here, being tortured, because of that git in the other corner. Okay, the git in the other corner hadn't always been a git. Okay, actually James was the best friend he every had. He could talk about everything with him, and James immediately accepted him, even though Sirius parents were bad wizards. But the last couple of weeks, it wasn't that much fun anymore. Sirius knew that something was bothering James, but James refused to tell him. Like he doesn't truts me, Sirius thought. He, Sirius had always told James everything, even if it concerned his family. It was not like he didn't have a clue what was going on with James. His family was threatened a couple of times, because they were bloodtraitors. Maybe it was worse that he knew. But that was still no reason to blame him for it! Sirius had the feeling that always everything was his fault, and they were just making a bit of fun today. Then James got angry, for no reason at all. And he shouted that this wasn't the way a Marauder was treated and that he would quite. I was forced to make some extreme moves, thought Sirius. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have hit his glasses off his face, but something like that was extremely appropriate.

Another hour passed in total silence. James began to feel a bit hopeless. Maybe he should apologize. After all, he did react a bit weird. But Sirius didn't respect his feelings! Okay, maybe he did, but he didn't show a lot of pity! Okay, so Sirius was never taught to show his feelings and pity, but he could have learned it from him! He always asked how Sirius was doing and why he was angry or upset. But when James started to think about it, he didn't know if he did ...

Sirius was about to say sorry. He couldn't take this anymore. Maybe his moves had been a little too extreme. And if he made it up, they could go outside and prank everything moving plus everything standing still! The only thing that kept him from it was that James would win the argument if he did. But he started to feel a little guilty ...

McGonagall looked up again. The boys had been standing there for three hours now! There was never going to get an end to this if she didn't do anything quick!

"Okay, I changed my mind. Black, you stay here and you will serve a week detention with mr. Filch. Potter, you can leave. After all, you didn't ask for a fight."

Both the boys turned around. Black immediately began shouting: "WHAT, BUT THAT ISN'T FAIR. I ONLY ATTACKED HIM BECAUSE I WANTED TO HELP HIM, HE COULD LOSE HIS ANGER THAT WAY AND HE WENT TO FAR HIMSELF!

James didn't move. This wasn't what he expected. McGonagall had dismissed him and Sirius had tried to help him. He couldn't leave his friend here!

"Fine. Then we turn it around. Black go! Potter, you stay here. You angered Black by your behaviour!" McGonagall said, her face normal, but inside she was having fun!

Now, James started to shout and Sirius didn't move. It was time for her last move.

"All right then. Both of you will stand her for another two hours and both of you will serve a month detention with mr. Filch."

This was the moment every fight was forgotten and Sirius and James screamed together at their professor. She quickly cast a silencio on both of them and the boys soon realised they lost their ability to speak. Together, they pulled out their wands and looked each other in the eye. The apologie wasn't spoken aloud, but either way it was clear. Then, without speaking the released the spell from the other one, but neither of them screamed.

McGonagall smiled. She knew it!

"Congratualations, Black and Potter. You passed this test. You are dismissed now, but if I ever catch you two fighting again ..."

Sirius and James were about to thank her when a voice came out of the corridor.

"YES, MWOAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I TOLD YOU THAT IT WOULD LAST FOR MORE THAN THREE HOURS, LILY! GIVE UP THOSE TEN GALLEONS!"

"Was that Remus shouting there?" James asked Sirius.

"I think it was, my dear Prongs!"

"HE WILL PAY, BETTING ON OUR DETENTION!" James screamed.

"ON THE COUNT OF THREE: ONE ..." But neither of them could wait till Sirius was finished counting. After ONE, they both stormed out of the room, giving Remus and Lily almost a heart attack. Still, they were both able to run and sprinted out of the castle.

"I'll get Lily, Padfoot my friend!" shouted James.

"I'll get Remus!" Sirius yelled back.

Then the two of them screamed: "THEY WILL PAY!"


End file.
